Pedestrian

This is a report of the funeral of Professor Masoud Ali Mohammadi, the slain phycist, from Agh Bahman.

What is really important to note is that the Islamic Association of the University of Tehran [pro-reformist], released a joint letter with the Basij of the University of Tehran [pro-government] not only condemning the death but the circumstances under which the funeral was held. Part of the letter reads:

After the barbaric terrorist attack which killed Professor Ali Mohammadi, the funeral of this esteemed scientist was held in the most unfortunate manner. Professors, students and friends of the professor were only heard shouting laa-elaaha-ellalah and were mourning his loss in silence, but unfortunately, some only wanted the atmosphere to become tense and violent. But they did not reach their aim, with the calmness and silence with which the students reacted.

We find it necessary to mention a few points:

It is quite unfortunate that the body of this esteemed martyr was buried under an environment of fear and panic, with the presence of both police forces and militias.

We strongly condemn the beating and harassing of students and professors who were peacefully attending the funeral of a colleague by the hands of ununiformed militias.

But here is the account of the day:

If you want to know what happened during the day, go to Ahmad Shirzad’s weblog or the weblog Dreams of Awakening. [But after we got back ...]

After running away from the funeral [because of the tight security, tear gas, violence, etc] and returning to the Physics Department, we all gathered in the auditorium, startled and numb. If I try to give you an approximation of the catastrophe, I only need to tell two stories:

Everyone was gathered in the auditorium, crying and weeping. They [security forces] had sprayed into the face of Professor Fatemeh Shojaii, for trying to save one of the students who was being beaten. Professors Moshafegh, Nouri, Ghorbanzadeh, and … had all been beaten badly. Professor Vaez Alaie was weeping so hard in the auditorium. Professors and students were going up and talking for a bit, one by one. Professor Tavakoli went up first. In between his talk, one of the students shouted: “professor! don’t speak”. We were all surprised. Then the student continued: “we can’t bear to lose you too…”

The entire auditorium was swept with tears.

Professor Ejtehadi came to speak with a very tearful face. He told the story of how when he was accepted into Sharif University’s phd program, Ali Mohammad was defending his thesis. He said that Ali Mohammadi was a role model for them all, since he’d been the first one to graduate. He said that they saw him as their future. And then he stopped … and continued: “who knows? he may still be our future.” [we too may be killed]

Again, you could hear the entire auditorium crying.

The university will be a great big funeral until the students [who were arrested during the funeral] are released. But we think that disseminating this statement [by basij and islamic association] is important and we must spread word of the disrespect and violence inflicted on the professors and students today.